Television broadcast system for selective transmission of viewer-chosen programs at viewer-requested times

ABSTRACT

A televsion broadcast system using land lines is provided for real-time transmission of a viewer-chosen program at a viewer requested time to the requesting viewer&#39;s television receiver. The preferred method includes the steps of providing a collection of stored programs, communicating the requesting veiwer&#39;s choice of the program chosen from the collection and a requested time for viewing the chosen program, selecting the chosen program from a collection, transmitting the chosen program at the requested time for viewing on the requesting viewer&#39;s receiver, and preventing intelligible viewing of the chosen program on other receivers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a community antenna television (CATV)system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system inwhich a viewer can choose a program and request a time for viewing ofthe chosen program on the viewer's television receiver.

2. Description of the Prior Art

With over half the homes in the U.S. now equipped with video cassetterecorders, a major industry has developed which includes thousands ofvideo stores for renting movies and other programs on video cassettes inorder to satisfy a demand for over three billion rentals a year. One ofthe reasons video tape cassette rentals have become so popular is thatthe viewer can rent a desired program cassette from the video store'sassortment and then view that program whenever desired. This is incontrast to conventional broadcast television or premium cabletelevision in which the viewer neither chooses the program beingtransmitted nor the time at which it is transmitted.

Even with the advantages of cassette rental, certain problems areapparent. For example, the viewer must make a first round-trip to thevideo store to pick up the desired program cassette and then make asecond round-trip to return the cassette. Additionally, the viewer maymake a trip to the video store only to find that the movie isunavailable either because all of the available copies have already beenrented, or that particular video store does not stock the desired movie.If such occurs, not only is the viewer inconvenienced, but the videostore also loses potential rental revenue.

Furthermore, the existing system for renting video cassettes presentssome inherent inefficiencies. For example, in order to minimizeinconvenience to the customer, the video store must be located at apremium, high rent, location such as a corner intersection or a shoppingmall and pay the high rent associated with the premium location.

Second, each video store must carry a complete library of video tapedprograms most of which are unused at any given time. For example, it avideo tape store may carry an inventory of over 5,000 program titlesrepresenting thousands more video cassettes owing to the duplication ofmany of the titles. The inventory problem is magnified if duplicatecassettes are stocked in VHS and BETA formats. At any given time,however, only a relatively small percentage of the titles will be rentedwhich are typically the currently most popular programs. Even with sucha large inventory, the video store can satisfy relatively few requestsfor the most popular programs. That is to say, even if a number ofcopies of a currently popular program are in stock, the demand for thisprogram may far exceed this number of copies and potential revenue islost while other titles lie idle.

Third, the inventory problem for video rental stores is a growing one inthat new titles are released to the video market each month with theresult that the number of titles in a video store's inventory grows byat least this amount each month. The physical space required to storethese additional titles may grow at an even faster rate because morethan one copy of each title may be purchased. In order to handle theever increasing number of cassettes, the video store must increase itsstorage capacity for which it must pay a higher rent because of thestore's premium location.

In order to solve some of the problems associated with the videocassette rental industry, various prior art solutions have beenproposed. For example, Pat. No. 4,506,387 which is hereby incorporatedby reference discloses a system in which a cable television system(CATV) may download a recording from a central location over its cabletrunk line to a memory module included in the viewer's televisionreceiver. The program is downloaded in non-real time, typically in about30 seconds, and the viewer then activates the memory module to view theprogram stored therein. The '387 patent presents some disadvantages,however, in that the central location must be equipped to download theprogram in non-real time. Additionally, each viewer's receiver must beequipped with a memory module to store the downloaded program. Suchequipment may be prohibitively expensive and may be also inefficient inthat a viewer's receiver must be properly equipped even though aparticular viewer may seldom, if ever, desire to take advantage of thecapability.

Patent No. 4,381,522 which is hereby incorporated by reference disclosesa system in which a viewer can telephone the cable company's centrallocation and electronically select a specialized recording such as acommercial advertisement for broadcast over one of the unused channelsof the cable television system. A computer then schedules the program,transmits it at the scheduled time, and separately transmits a directoryof all of the scheduled programs on another unused channel. The viewerthen observes the directory channel to see when the requested recordingis scheduled, and then turns to the channel indicated at the scheduledtime to view the program. The provision of the directory channelencourages other viewers to view one of the scheduled recordings also.The system as disclosed in the '522 patent does not allow the viewer todetermine when the program is to be scheduled and furthermore providesno means by which receivers other than the one of the requesting viewerare prevented from viewing the scheduled program.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention solves the problems as outlined above. Theinvention hereof allows a viewer to choose a program from a collectionand to view that program at a viewer-requested time on the viewer'sreceiver for which the viewer is billed and which also preventsnon-requesting viewers from intelligible viewing of the chosen programon their associated receivers. This allows a viewer to "rent" a programwithout the need for a VCR.

The present invention is advantageously and preferably implemented inthe context of a television transmission system, typically a CATVsystem, which uses land lines such as coaxial cables or fiber opticcables for transmitting programs to a plurality of subscriber'sreceivers. Preferably the television transmission system is an"addressable" system in which selected programs are scrambled to preventintelligible viewing thereof and in which a descrambling signal can thenbe addressed to the receiver associated with the requesting viewer whichin turn prompts the included control unit to descramble the programtransmission for viewing on that receiver.

The preferred method of the present invention involves the steps ofproviding a collection of stored programs, selecting a program chosenfrom the collection for transmission at a requested time in response toa request from a viewer, transmitting the chosen program in real-timeover the system's land lines at the requested time, and preventingintelligible viewing of the chosen program at the requested time byreceivers other than the requesting viewer's receiver. Moreparticularly, the preferred method includes the steps of scrambling thetransmission of the chosen program and transmitting decoder signals tothe requesting viewer's receiver in order to allow intelligible viewingof the chosen program thereon only by the requesting viewer and therebypreventing intelligible viewing by others.

Additionally, the preferred method also includes the steps oftransmitting the chosen program at the requested time over a selectedchannel and communicating the identity of the selected channel only tothe requesting viewer.

In preferred forms, the method hereof includes the steps of transmittingaddress signals specific to the control unit associated with therequesting viewer and transmitting associated descrambler signalsspecific to the selected channel over which the chosen program is beingtransmitted.

Advantageously, the preferred method includes the steps of identifying asection of the land lines having a subset of receivers operably coupledthereto, transmitting the chosen program over the section of the landlines, identifying a juncture between the section and the remainingportion of the land lines, and preventing transmission of the chosenprogram therebeyond by use of a blocking device located at the juncture.

The preferred apparatus includes a collection of stored programs, meansfor selectively choosing certain ones of the programs for transmission,means for transmitting a chosen program at a requested time, and ascheduling computer for scheduling program choices and requested times.The preferred apparatus also includes computer means for receivinginformation from the requesting viewer as encoded signals preferablyover telephone lines using telephone touch-tones. In especiallypreferred forms, the computer means is equipped for voice communicationwith the requesting viewer either in the form of synthetically generatedvoice signals or prerecorded selected messages.

Other preferred aspects of the present invention are explainedhereinbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

FIG. 1 is schematic illustration of the preferred configuration of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration showing the preferred interconnectionbetween the configuration of FIG. 1 and sections of the transmissionsystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is preferably implemented in the context of aconventional community antenna television (CATV) system, the equipmentand operation of which are well understood by those skilled in the artand which are explained in part in the Electronics Engineer's Handbook,Second Edition, which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Preferred system 10 (FIGS. 1) includes central unit 12, land lines 14, aplurality of viewer-associated receivers 16, and a plurality ofviewer-associated telephone handsets 18.

Central unit 12 includes program collection 20, a plurality of signaltransmitters 22, signal combiner 24, billing and address computer 26,scheduling computer 28, a plurality of input data computer terminals 30having associated telephone units 32, and output schedule computerterminal 34.

Program collection 20 includes a plurality of programs stored on amedium allowing selective reproduction and real-time transmissionthereof over land lines 14 for reception by and viewing on receiver 16by an associated viewer. Preferably, the programs stored in collection20 are stored on 3/4" video tape which allows for higher fidelityreproduction than conventional 1/2" video tape. Each program ispreferably assigned and labeled with a catalog number, a list of whichis stored in scheduling computer 28. Preferably, up to three copies ofselected programs are included in collection 20 which to allowcontinuous transmission of ninety-minute programs at half-hour intervalsif desired for currently popular programs.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the programs in collection20 can be stored on a variety of media including compact disks, floppydisks, hard disks, conventional magnetic tape, electronic memory such asthat disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,387, or the like. While storage onvideo tape is preferred, available technology and economic factors maydictate an alternative storage medium.

Signal transmitters 22 are conventional units commonly found in the"head end" of a typical CATV system. Signal transmitter 22 includessignal source 36 and converter/scrambler unit 38.

Signal source 36 in a typical CATV system is the origination point forsignals received by way of antenna, microwave, land lines from a localtelevision station, or a video cassette recorder (VCR). Preferred signalsource 36 includes a 3/4" video cassette recorder (VCR) operable toreceive and play video cassettes selected from collection 20 and toproduce signals representative thereof for presentation toconverter/scrambler unit 38.

Conventional converter/scrambler unit 38 receives signals from signalsource 36 and converts those signals for output on a predeterminedfrequency channel. In a conventional system, these channels include lowband, mid-band, high band, super band, and hyper band, which, dependingupon the design of the system, may allow selection of up to seventydifferent channels for program transmission on a single coaxial cabletrunk line. In the preferred system, unit 38 is operable to selectivelyscramble program transmissions.

Conventional signal combiner 24 receives the output signals fromtransmitters 22 on the various channels and combines those signals fortransmission over land lines 14. Signal combiner 24 is also typicallycoupled with conventional billing and address computer 26.

Computer 26 is operable to transmit decoder signals by way of signalcombiner 24 onto land lines 14 and thereby to receivers 16 which allowsintelligible viewing of scrambled program transmission on selected onesof receivers 16 and prevents intelligible viewing on others. That is tosay, computer 16 keeps track of which viewers which have subscribed tocertain premium channels such as HBO, and periodically transmits decodersignals which include address signals specific to receivers 16.Descrambling signals are typically associated with the address signalswhich prompts the addressed receiver 16 to descramble the transmissionsidentified by the associated descrambler signals. Receivers 16 which donot receive descrambling signals associated with their respectiveaddress signals prevent intelligible viewing of the scrambled programtransmission.

Computer 26 is also operable for producing billing information asappropriate for the services to which the individual viewers havesubscribed. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the variousfunctions performed by computer 26 may be performed by separatecomputers.

Scheduling computer 28 is preferably a minicomputer and is operablycoupled with terminals 30, with computer 26, and with terminal 34. Aswill be explained further hereinbelow, computer 28 receives datarepresentative of the program choices and requested times for viewingthereof and presents outputs at terminal 34 whereby the chosen programcan be selected from collection 20 for transmission by the respectivesignal transmitter 22 at the requested time.

In one embodiment, viewers communicate their program choices andrequested viewing times by way of conventional telephone handsets 18connected through the local telephone network. Respective customerservice representatives answer the incoming calls over phone units 32and then enter the information communicated from the viewers intoscheduling computer 28 by way of respective terminals 30, each of whichincludes a conventional data entry keyboard and monitor.

Land lines 14 typically include coaxial cables which transmit theprograms from program unit 12 to receivers 16. Receivers 16 areconventially coupled with land lines 14 by way of respective cable taps40.

Receivers 16 each include control unit 42 and television 44. Controlunit 42 converts a program transmission received from land lines 14 onone of the various transmission channels to an output on a preselectedchannel for reception by television 24.

Control unit 42 is also operable to selectively descramble certain ofthe transmissions received by way of land lines 14 from central unit 12.Each control unit 42 is equipped to receive decoder signals to detectits specific address signal from computer 26 and in response todescramble the transmission identified by the descrambling signalsassociated with the address signals.

In the preferred method of operating system 10, each subscribinghousehold is provided with a catalog of the programs included incollection 20 along with the associated program identification number bywhich scheduling computer 28 identifies the program and by which theyare labeled and stored in collection 20. Preferably, monthly supplementsto the program catalog are provided as new programs are added tocollection 20 and new catalogs are periodically issued incorporating theprevious supplements as needed. The program listings in the catalog arepreferably arranged alphabetically and also by subject category tofacilitate selection of a desired type of program. Collection 20includes full-length movies, recordings of previously transmittedregularly scheduled commercial broadcasts and other programs of interestto the subscribers. Each subscribing household is preferably providedwith a confidential identication number in order to prevent unauthorizedordering and thereby billing of a program.

After a viewer has chosen a program, the viewer then uses telephonehandset 18 to place a telephone call over the conventional telephonenetwork to the telephone number associated with central unit 12.Customer service representatives answer the incoming telephone calls towhom the viewer communicates the program choice and requested time alongwith the viewer's name and confidential identification number. Thecustomer service representative then enters this information by way ofterminal 30 into computer 28.

In accordance with conventional computer programming techniques wellknown to those skilled in the art, computer 28 first determines whetherthe viewer's name and identification number match. If not, this fact iscommunicated to the representative who informs the viewer that therequest cannot be satisfied without a correct match. If the customername and identification number do match, computer 28 then determineswhether the chosen program has been already previously scheduled at therequested time. If such is the case, computer 28 need not reschedule thechosen program, but rather needs only prompt address computer 26 totransmit proper decoding signals to the viewer's control unit 16 at therequested time to allow the viewer's receiver to descramble the programand to enter the billing information.

If the chosen movie has not been previously scheduled at the requestedtime, computer 28 determines whether a channel is available at therequested time. If yes, computer 28 selects an available channel andschedules this channel for transmission of the chosen program at therequested time. Computer 28 then presents confirmation of this to thecustomer service representative on the monitor associated with terminal30 along with the channel number which is then communicated to theviewer.

Computer 28 provides scheduling information as output by way of terminal34. In the preferred form, an operator reads the output from terminal 34either presented on an associated monitor or as a hard copy print out.In response, the operator selects the chosen program from collection 20and inserts into the appropriate VCR included in signal source 36 whichis associated with the scheduled channel. That is to say, eachtransmitter 22 is associated with a specific output channel and theinformation provided from computer 28 by way of terminal 34 instructsthe operator which VCR is to be used for transmitting the chosen programat the requested time. In the alternative, system 10 could be arrangedsuch that any unused signal transmitter 22 can be selected and thenadjusted to transmit on the scheduled channel. At the requested time theoperator activates the appropriate VCR in order to transmit the programwhich is scrambled and converted by unit 38 and presented on theselected channel to signal combiner 24 and onto land lines 14.

Computer 28, upon scheduling the chosen program at the requested time,also interacts with computer 26 so that computer 26 sends appropriatedecoder signals at the requested time and during transmission of theprogram to receiver 16 associated with the requesting viewer. Thedecoder signals include address signals specific to control unit 16associated with the requesting viewer and prompts control unit 42 todescramble the chosen program in accordance with the descrambler signalsassociated with the address signal. In this way, the requesting viewercan view the program on the viewer-associated television 44. Byscrambling the transmission, and by not providing a descrambling signalto other receivers, subscribers other than the requesting viewer areprevented from intelligible viewing of the chosen program.

Upon transmission of the chosen program at the requested time, billingand address computer 26 is programmed to automatically add the specifiedprogram charge to the requesting viewer's monthly bill.

If there are no available channels at the requested time, computer 28 ispreferably programmed to determine the nearest available time frameduring which a channel is available or to determine the nearestavailable time when the chosen program is already scheduled fortransmission. This information is then presented to the customer servicerepresentative on terminal 30 who in turn communicates this informationto the requesting viewer who may thereupon select one of the alternativetimes. For example, if the requesting viewer wishes to see a verypopular program at a certain time, and all of the channels are alreadyscheduled for that time, none of which include that chosen program, anunused channel may be available shortly before or after the requestedtime or the chosen program may be already be rescheduled at a nearbytime whereupon the requesting viewer can select one of these.

As discussed above, scheduling computer 28 is programmed to ensure thatthe viewer's identification number matches the name of the requestingviewer, or the requesting viewer's address, and so forth. As a furthercheck, computer 28 can be programmed to also include the requestingviewer's telephone number, and upon being provided with thisinformation, can double check this against the confidentialidentification number and the requesting viewer's name and address. Thisprovides additional assurance that unauthorized persons do not scheduleprograms which would be billed against another subscriber's account.

As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the requirement for acustomer service representative to answer telephone 32 can be eliminatedby the provision of a so-called "auto-dial" device which would allow therequesting viewer to communicate directly with scheduling computer 28 byproviding appropriate encoded signals such as those provided by buttons46 as touch-tone signals from telephone handset 18. Such systems arewell known to those skilled in the art and are commonly used in bankingservices whereby customers can conduct transactions with their financialaccounts. Such systems often include voice response systems which can beincorporated in computer 28 to provide verbal messages by way ofsynthesized voice or prerecorded verbal messages. The requesting viewercan respond to inquiries by the computer by entering the appropriatecodes on push buttons 46. Such an interconnection with computer 28 byway of terminal 30 is indicated by the dashed lines 48.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the information fromthe requesting viewer can be communicated to central unit 12 by usingland lines 14 such as with an interactive cable system. Such systems arewell known such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,290,142,4,408,345, and 4,710,955 which are hereby incorporated by reference.

As discussed above in connection with U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,387, programcollection 20 can include programs stored in electronic memory. If suchis preferred, computer 28 can be connected directly with collection 20as represented by line 50. In addition, collection 20 can be directlycoupled with signal sources 36 as illustrated by lines 52. With such anarrangement, the requirement for an operator to physically select theprograms from collection 20 and in to insert them in the appropriate VCRis eliminated. That is to say, upon instructions from schedulingcomputer 28, collection 20 is operable to cause the chosen program to betransmitted directly to the appropriate signal source 36 for thescheduled channel at the requested time.

While the present invention is discussed in the environment of aconventional CATV system using coaxial cables such as land lines 14, thepresent invention is also useful it the context wherein land lines 14are fiber optic cables or telephone lines. Fiber optic cables have thecapability of carrying many more channels than a coaxial cable withrepeaters spaced further apart and with somewhat greater immunity toexternal noise. In such a system, conventional telephone communicationmay also be provided over such a fiber optic cable or, in thealternative, a separate key pad, keyboard, or the like can be includedas part of receiver 16 whereby the requesting viewer can enter datarepresentative of the chosen program and requested time for transmissionover the land lines 14 directly to computer 28.

A typical cable television system using a coaxial cable as a trunk linemay have upwards of fifty channels unused for regularly scheduledtransmissions. With the potential for thousands of receivers connectedto the system, fifty unused channels may not be adequate to supply thedemand viewer-chosen program viewing. It should be appreciated, however,that in this example, fifty available channels can still satisfy theprogram choice demands of many thousands of subscribers. For example,fifty channels transmitting the fifty most popular programs of the daymay satisfy up to 80% of the program requests. It wold not be unexpectedthat many subscribers may request the most popular program. This,coupled with the fact that all of the subscribers will not likely berequesting movies at the same time, may allow fifty available channelsto serve many subscribers.

Nevertheless, there may be some upper limit as to the number ofsubscribers that the available channels can adequately serve. In orderto provide the optimum service to the subscribers in a system, thepresent invention encompasses the configuration as illustrated in FIG.2. A typical CATV system includes a head end 52 at which the transmittedprogram originates and which in turn transmits the programs on thevarious channels by way of land lines 14. In the preferred embodiment asillustrated in FIG. 2, land lines 14 are further designated to include aplurality of sections of which sections 54 and 56 are illustrated. Eachsection 54, 56 includes a respective subset 58 and 60 of receiversrespectively coupled thereto. Each section 54, 56 and so forth isrespectively coupled to the remaining portions of land lines 14 at arespective node or juncture 62, 64.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a central unit isprovided for each subsection. Two such central units 12 and 66 areillustrated and are respectively coupled via lines 68 and 70 withrespective sections 54 and 56. Furthermore, respective blocking devices72 and 74 are provided at junctures 62 and 64 respectively.

Blocking devices 72 and 74 are preferably low pass filters which allowtransmissions from head end 52 transmitted at the lower frequencychannels to pass unimpeded therethrough. Viewer-chosen programming ispreferably transmitted at the higher frequency channels directly to therespective sections 54, 56. Blocking devices 72 and 74 preventtransmission of these higher frequency channels beyond their respectivesections so that they do not interfere with one another. That is to say,each program unit 12 and 66 can broadcast viewer-chosen programs on thesame channel frequencies but the sections are isolated from one anotherby the blocking devices.

Sections of land lines 14 can be identified and designated as desired bythe proper placement of a blocking device such that each program unitcan adequately serve the program requests of the viewers associated withthe subset of receivers included in each subsection. For example, if aCATV system has 50,000 subscribers, and it is determined that fiftychannels can adequately satisfy the viewer-chosen program requests of10,000 viewers, five sections of 10,000 receivers each would bedesignated with a blocking device installed at the juncture between eachdesignated section and the remaining portions of the land lines. In thisway, transmissions produced by separate central units on the samechannels to separate sections would not interfere with one another. Thisarrangement effectively multiplies the number of available channels forviewer-chosen programs.

As preferred, central units 12, 66 and so forth, are located in physicalproximity with head end 52 to take advantage of already existingequipment. It should be appreciated, however, that even with multiplecentral units, multiple scheduling computers, billing, and addresscomputers may not be needed. That is to say, a single set ofappropriately selected computers can serve all of the central units.Additionally, economy of a scale may dictate that all of the centralunits use a common program collection 20 in order to minimize the sizeof the inventory. Furthermore, the various program units may also sharea common set of incoming telephone lines for communicating withrequesting viewers.

As an alternative, however, and depending upon the configuration of theCATV network and the economics involved, it may be desirable to locate atotally independent and free-standing program unit physically adjacentits associated section of the land lines or physically adjacent anotherlocation such as the central administrative office of the CATVtransmission system. That is to say, those skilled in the art willappreciate that the physical location of the program unit and whethermultiple program units can use common equipment is a matter of designchoice dictated by technology, economics, and so forth.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that blocking devices 72,74, and so forth may include distribution repeaters or amplifiers whichare designed to amplify the frequency channels emanating from head end,but by their nature inherently block passage of the higher frequencychannels from the various sections to the remaining portions of landlines 14. This can be implemented by coupling line 68, immediately"downstream" of the repeater nearest juncture 62. Other repeatersdownstream of this blocking repeater receive and amplify all theincoming transmissions including the transmissions from the head end andthose injected at juncture 62.

As should now be apparent from the description above, the presentinvention allows a requesting viewer to choose a program for viewing ata requested time on the television receiver associated with therequesting viewer. The convenience provided thereby eliminates the needfor the viewer to drive to a video store to pickup a chosen movie onvideo tape and to again repeat the trip to return the movie.

Additionally, the present invention minimizes the risk that the viewerwill be unable to view the chosen program at the viewer requested time.This risk is minimized for two reasons. First, the preferred embodimenthereof designates sections of the land lines which are matched from acapacity standpoint with its associated program unit in order to satisfythe demands of the viewers associated therewith. Secondly, the presentinvention allows as many viewers as are connected to the system tochoose the same program at the same time. This is because once thechosen program is scheduled for transmission on a particular channel,additional viewers can be added simply by transmitting the appropriatedescrambling signals to the requesting viewer's receiver. In this way,many viewers can choose the currently most popular program rather thanjust a few as determined by the number of cassette copies available aswith prior art video stores.

The present invention also avoids the need for premium rental space inwhich to store a large inventory of programs and eliminates the manyduplications of inventory carried by the many video stores in aterritory.

Having thus described the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention, the following is claimed as new and desired to be secured byLetters Patent:
 1. A method of operating a television transmissionsystem using land lines such as coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, andthe like for transmitting television programs thereover for reception bya plurality of receivers coupled in common with the land lines said landlines being organized in plural sections where each section has a subsetof plural receivers coupled thereto, the system including means forselectively preventing intelligible viewing of certain programs bycertain receivers even though said certain receivers are connected tothe same land line as other receivers not so prevented, said methodcomprising the steps of:providing a collection of stored programs storedon a medium allowing selective reproduction and real-time transmissionof said stored programs over the land lines; selecting a chosen programfrom said collection for transmission at a requested time in response toa request therefor from all so requesting viewers of a given section:transmitting said chosen program in real-time over said given section ofthe land lines at said requested time for reception by and viewing onall receivers of requesting viewers associated with said given section;and preventing intelligible viewing of said chosen program at saidrequested time on all other receivers of said given section.
 2. Themethod as set forth in claim 1, the system includingscrambler meansoperably coupled with said land lines for selectively scrambling thetransmission of certain of the program transmissions in order to preventintelligible viewing thereof on the receivers, a plurality of controlunits respectively corresponding to and operably associated with thereceivers and operably coupled with the land lines, each control unitbeing operable for receiving decoder signals and in response thereto forselectively descrambling certain ones of the program transmissions forallowing intelligible viewing thereof on the associated receiver, anddecoder signal means operably coupled with the land lines and operablefor selectively transmitting decoder signals for reception by thereceivers in order to allow intelligible viewing of certain ones of theprograms on selected ones of the receivers, said method furtherincluding the steps of scrambling the transmission of said chosenprogram in order to prevent intelligible viewing thereof on thereceivers, and transmitting decoder signals for receipt by said receiverassociated with said requesting viewer in order to allow intelligibleviewing of said chosen program thereon.
 3. The method as set forth inclaim 2, the system including means for transmitting a plurality ofprograms on a respective plurality of identifiable channels, the controlunits being operable for tuning to a selected channel, the decodersignals including address signals respectively specific to the controlunits and descrambler signals respectively associated with the addresssignals and respectively specific to identify selected transmissions,each control unit being responsive to specific address signals and thedescrambler signals associated therewith for descrambling programtransmissions on the channels identified by the descrambler signals,said method further including the steps ofselecting a channel fortransmission, transmitting said chosen program during said requestedtime on said selected channel, communicating the identity of saidselected channel only to said requesting viewer, transmitting addresssignals specific to the control unit associated with the requestingviewer's receiver and transmitting associated descrambler signalsspecific to identify said selected channel.
 4. The method as set forthin claim 1, the system including means for simultaneously transmitting aplurality of programs on a respective plurality of identifible channels,the receivers being operable for tuning to a selected channel, saidmethod further including the steps oftransmitting said chosen programduring said requested time over a selected channel, and communicatingthe identity of said selected channel only to said requesting viewer. 5.The method as set forth in claim 1, further including the stepsofproviding computer means operable for receiving from said requestingviewer encoded signals representative of said chosen program, saidrequested time, and the identity of said receiver associated with saidrequesting viewer, said selecting step including the step of selectingsaid chosen program from said collection in response to said encodedsignals from said requesting viewer.
 6. The method as set forth in claim5, further including the step of providing said computer means withvoice interaction capability and using said computer for providing voicecommunication to said requesting viewer.
 7. The method as set forth inclaim 1, said encoded signals including telephone touch-tone signals. 8.The method as set forth in claim 1, further including the steps ofproviding scheduling computer means operable for scheduling multipleprogram choices and multiple requested times.
 9. The method as set forthin claim 8, further including the steps ofproviding computer means forproviding billing information correlated with the requesting viewer'schosen program, and providing a bill to said requesting viewercorresponding to said chosen program.
 10. The method as set forth inclaim 1, further including the step of providing electronic memory meanshaving said collection stored therein.
 11. In a television transmissionsystem using land lines such as coaxial cables, fiber optic cables, andthe like for transmitting programs thereover for reception by aplurality of television receivers coupled in common with said landlines, the system further including communicating means for receivinginformation over land lines from the viewers, the land lines includingat least one section having plural receivers coupled therewith, theimprovement comprising:a collection of stored programs stored on amedium allowing selective reproduction and real-time transmissionthereof over the land lines for reception and viewing thereof byselected receivers; receiving means operably associated with thecommunicating means for receiving information from plural requestingviewers, said information including each requesting viewer's choice of aprogram chosen from said collection and a requested time for viewing ofsaid program on a receiver associated with said requesting viewer;selecting means operably associated with said collection and operablyassociated with and responsive to said receiving means for selecting agiven said chosen program from said collection; transmitting meansoperably associated with said selecting means and coupled with saidsection of land lines for transmission of said given chosen program oversaid section at said requested time for reception by and viewing on allreceivers coupled to the section and associated with a request for saidchosen program at a common requested time; and means for preventingtransmission of the chosen program over any remaining portion, if any,of the land lines.
 12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 11, thesystem including means for simultaneously transmitting selected programsover a respective plurality of channels included in a specified group ofchannels,said transmitting means including means for transmitting saidchosen program on a selected channel other than the channel included insaid selected group of channels, said preventing means includingstructure allowing passage of programs being transmitted on the channelsincluded in the selected group and structure for preventing passage oftransmissions on said selected channels from said section to theremaining portion of the system.
 13. The apparatus as set forth in claim12, said selected channel being at a relatively higher frequency thanthe channels in the specified group.